Wednesday, April 6, 2011

5:29 PM

Assistant AG JoAnne Kloppenburg this afternoon said she's confident the current margin in the Supreme Court race will hold, and that she's "looking forward to becoming a justice on August 1."

Kloppenburg declared victory earlier in the day after unofficial returns showed her with a razor-thin 204-vote lead over incumbent Justice David Prosser. Official results will be available after completion of 72 county canvasses, after which a recount appears almost certain.

But the challenger said at a press conference at the Edgewater Hotel that "the numbers show that we won." She said she hasn't spoken with Prosser or hired any attorneys to deal with a potential recount.

Kloppenburg downplayed the effect of recent political controversies on the election, saying she and Prosser participated in an unprecedented number of debates and insisting voters could see past the deluge of third-party ads in the race.

"I don't think it was a referendum at all on Governor Walker's policy," Kloppenburg said.

She did acknowledge that the collective bargaining debate did affect the race, but only to underscore the importance of independence and impartiality on the high court.

For now, Kloppenburg said she'll let the canvassing process play itself out and return to work at the state Justice Department. She said she intends to stay with DOJ until August.